“Jeb has a deep sleeper-cell network of people who worked for him, worked for his brother, worked for his father. I think Marco has a lot more touch and ties with the conservative activist base in the state, and in the last few years that activist base has been transformed into what was once the more traditional Republican establishment,” said Rick Wilson, a Florida GOP consultant who has long-standing ties to both camps.
Even if both run, Wilson dismissed the idea that it should be seen as a two-man contest. “It’s not going to be a race of Jeb versus Marco. It’s going to be a race of Jeb versus Christie versus Marco and everyone else in the pile.… This is looking like a 10-way rotating knife fight.”
Still, there’s no denying that Rubio and Bush could be on collision course—if not immediately for votes and strategists and volunteers, then for financial backing from the same pool of GOP donors in their shared home state.
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